SIGA Tape-Small Product With a BIG Impact

It is recently estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency that the average person spends 90% of their life indoors. Poor indoor air quality is a great risk to human health. It is compromised by improper heating and venting systems, contamination of construction materials, and indoor air contaminants such as chemicals, dusts, vapours, and moulds. Air pollution can cause respiratory diseases, allergies, or even lung cancer. VOCs have become a recognized concept, and zero VOC (volatile organic compound) paints, stains, and sealers have been advertised in building materials lately. But often it is what lies beneath the surface of interior finishes which can make the greatest impact.

Indoor air quality is frequently compromised for a tightly constructed building envelope. Caulking and taping is used to fill joints and breaks in the air control layers, however they often come with an increased footprint and VOCs.

SIGA is a Swiss company founded in 1960 that creates adhesive products without residential toxins such as solvents, high boilers, formaldehyde, and resins. The adhesives are used for renovations of new builds to seal air and wind tight building envelopes. A properly sealed building reduces heat costs and CO2 emissions, prevents leaking leading to mould, and locks out odours, noise, and unwanted summer heat.

Siga produces a variety of products to create a wind tight envelope, and compare the process to clothing a person:

“In cold and damp weather several layers of clothing provide comfortable protection. Underwear carries moisture (sweat) away from skin which corresponds to the airtight building shell (=vapor control layer). A sweater protects from cold (=insulation). But in cold and windy weather, this sweater is not sufficient. You additionally need a windbraker (=facade membrane or breathable membrane). When this jacket is open, cold wind and moist air enter the sweater and you feel cold. If it is closed, which corresponds to the windtight building envelope, wind and weather are kept out and the body remains comfortably warm.” (from http://www.herrmannframes.com/siga.php)

Airtight building envelope diagram from http://www.herrmannframes.com/siga.php

Because SIGA is made without solvents and VOC’s there is no shelf life to the adhesives. This supports their long life span. And while the product must be shipped from Europe, it is sent in recyclable carboard and paper, no plastic wrapping. The flexibility of the tape corrects imperfections in constructions such as window corners that are not 90 degrees resulting in a lack of airtightness. SIGA tapes prove that there is a need in the Canadian market for a sustainable adhesive, and with a creation similar to SIGA Canada could create a presence in the airtightness home products that is more environmentally friendly while reducing traveling distances.